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The Goldilocks Theory

If Goldilocks had broken into the bears’ house when they were homebrewing, she would have really had her work cut out. Mostly we talk about temperature when mashing, but there are a lot more variables at play. There’s sugar, enzymes and pH levels for her to judge too. The science of the mash is balancing them to get the perfect malty liquid – or “wort” – for the style of beer you’re making.

It’s worth noting here that no recipe is ever really “finished” – good brewers are always tweaking their processes to refine perceived flaws or to react to a shift in an ingredient. So there’s no right or wrong way to do a particular mash; there are only principles that every brewer interprets in their own way. This variation between styles and ingredients, brewers and breweries, is part of what makes beer so varied and exciting. But it also makes writing about beer almost as hard as brewing it. So cheers, guys.

The Right Amount of Water

The next chapter deals with the kind of water we need to use, but the amount of water in the mash is also key. Enzymes are pretty excitable, so if you don’t water down the grain enough they will go to town on the starch and covert it to sugar rapidly. The problem with that is they might do a half-assed job, and some of the sugar they create won’t be fermentable. The result is a fuller-bodied, sweeter beer. A mash with lots of water will result in a slower conversion, but more fermentable sugar for a drier beer. Neither situation is necessarily better; they are just suited to different styles of beer and brewing. A drier mash, particularly one with higher protein grains like wheat, does run the risk of getting “stuck.”